UAE update

Greetings from the UAE!

Sorry that we have been out of touch this last week! We have been keeping our days very full but that doesn't mean that we haven't been thinking about you all. We'll try to keep this brief, but we have lots to catch you up on.We'll just give you the highlights.

We spent Monday and Tuesday shadowing at the hospital. Many of us had the opportunity to observe births and work with the mothers and babies in the postpartum stage. We all had very enjoyable experiences and learned a lot about the way patients are cared for here. Even the patients are hospitable here and it is common for the nurses to be invited to stay in the room for tea and dates after each assessment. Because of the Eid celebration which is similar to Christmas for us, many of the patients were eager to get home, so the ward was very busy with discharges. The clinic on the other hand had a few slow days because of the celebration and because it was "too cold" for them to want to leave their homes.

On Wednesday we had the chance to visit many different homes as part of the Eid celebration. Part of the Eid celebration involves making short visits to people's homes and hosting the friends who come and visit you as well. Some of us had the opportunity to visit the palaces of the wives and mother of the Sheik, the ruler of the country. This is like the equivalent of having Christmas dinner with a former first lady!! It was an incredible experience. Another one of our most memorable Eid visits involved visiting the neighbor girls and learning Arabic dances from them. They are close to our age and are very eager to spend time with us. We came home feeling like we had eaten about six Christmas dinners in one day!!

Disclaimer for parents: You might want to sit down before you read the nextparagraph and keep in mind that we are all still alive.

Thursday was one ofthe most entertaining days we have had so far. In the afternoon we headed out into the desert with a few local tour guides, one of whom our professor had delivered at the hospital when she worked here. They took us out to their camel farm where we each had a chance to ride one of their camels. Thankfully nobody fell off this year. We were all very excited about the camel ride, but little did we know that the REAL fun would begin when they started letting some of the air out of the tires of their 4-wheel-drive SUVs. At the beginning of the trip we had all screamed when our driver "scaled" a two-foot sand dune. We didn't quite understand his smile at the time, but we would soon find out what he had been thinking. We all piled into the vehicles and headed up a dune that took us over a barbed wire fence. We then began the most thrilling ride any of us had ever been on. Imagine being on a roller coaster, except you can't see what is coming up next, you slide sideways down the hills, your car might tip over or get stuck at any time, and you are listening to Arabic rap music. But don't worry, we prayed for safety before we went and a local friend gave us a crash course on how to protect our heads in the event of a rollover.

After our voices got hoarse from screaming and some of the adults threatened to get out of the car and walk home, we took a little break. There was an airshow going on at the airport nearby so we sat on top of the dunes and watched the planes as they flew over our heads in their formations. It exciting to watch the Blue Angels and the British equivalent, along with other planes that we couldn't identify as easily. We then returned to camp where we watched another beautiful Arabian sunset while the men cooked our dinner over the fire. Talk about Arabic role reversal!!!

Though we were tired from all of the excitement and sun, half of our group still ventured out to a local wedding in the late evening. It was unlike any celebration you would ever see in the States. There is so much food, so many women, and so many fancy dresses! The bride came in on the catwalk and then saw her husband for the first time in her life. Some things are VERY different here.

Moving on to Friday (I promise we're almost done). We had a more relaxing day to catch up with ourselves. After church we had the day off to do whatever we wanted. Some of us headed up the mountain with our host's son for anafternoon of tennis, soccer, swimming, and mini golf along with another beautiful sunset. There really are no words to describe the beauty of the setting sun across the desert. Others went to the Catholic Church service and spent some time at home working on their journals. It was a day of much needed rest and we all feel ready to go for one more week.

Today we had an early as we headed to Fujairah, another one of the Emirates. We have now visited 5 of the 7 Emirates. Our professor says she will not take us to the other two because she has to leave us something to come back for :) We stopped for a couple of hours to play in the Indian Ocean and lay out on the beach before we headed to a maternity hospital where we spent time with the workers there. It was a great time of encouragement as we listened to their stories and had a time of worship with them. Tomorrow will be another full day of traveling as we head to Abu Dahbi to visit a University and then to Dubai to do a little more shopping.

It's hard to believe that we have only one week left here. The time has flown by but it is amazing how much we have packed into these last two weeks. We continue to be thankful for your prayers and look forward to telling you our stories in more detail when we return home. Yes, believe it or not, this is not even CLOSE to being detailed!

We trust that God is blessing you wherever you are. Please pray that we can continue to be lights here during this last week. We will try to get one more email out before we return home.

Love you all,
The UAE group